


The Periphery of Slumber

by melwil



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Post - Deathly Hallows, Post-Canon, Post-War, Pre-Epilogue, Rebuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-17
Updated: 2014-07-17
Packaged: 2018-02-09 06:36:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1972602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melwil/pseuds/melwil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He realised that these were conversations that adults had with each other. And he wondered at what point his father had started seeing him as an adult.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Periphery of Slumber

It was difficult to see his father clearly. The dim light of the low fire flickered and obscured and made everything uncertain. But Ron could have sworn that his father had grown old since Bill and Fleur’s wedding, and he didn’t know how he felt about that.

(He wondered what he would see the next time he looked in a mirror. He wondered how he would feel about that.)

His father was talking about arrangements and contacting people and Ron was helping him make decisions. And he realised that these were conversations that adults had with each other. And he wondered at what point his father had started seeing him as an adult. 

He hadn’t slept well and weariness hung around him like a weighted blanket. There had been too many people in the room, too many different breathing patterns, too many different sleeping forms haphazardly filling beds and camp beds and chairs. Everyone was anxious to be together. Everyone wanted to be there when Harry woke up.

But they’d all found sleep sooner or later, while Ron had drifted around the periphery of slumber. And when Harry woke, it was only Ron who was awake and there.

“How did so many people end up in there?” Harry ran his hand through his hair, wincing as it rained dust and dirt and who knows what onto the stairs.

“There wasn’t really anywhere else to go, I ‘spose.” Ron shrugged. “Everyone wanted to stay close.”

“Hermione?”

“Dean gave her his old bed. And I think Luna’s there too.”

Harry nodded as they reached the bottom of the stairs. The common room was emptier than Ron had expected, but his father was there, sitting near the fire. He turned as Harry and Ron entered, tensing for a moment, then relaxing.

“I was expecting . . .” his father’s voice was soft before it trailed away and he shook himself slightly. Ron realised that George was asleep on the sofa next to his dad, with Percy, Charlie and Bill asleep on camp beds in front of the fire. 

“Professor McGonagall wanted to see you, Harry. She was by a few hours ago.” 

Harry nodded and looked questioningly at Ron. He shook his head and waved Harry away. “You go on. I’ll be here when you’re done.”

He watched as his friend left through the portrait hole before sitting in the chair next to his father. 

“I couldn’t sleep.” His father kept his voice low, looking at the fire for a long time before turning his attention to Ron. “I’m exhausted, but I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking of you and Ginny and your mother up there. And then I’d think of Fred down there . . . I should be there with him, really. But George needed us too, and the others were so tired. But I couldn’t sleep.“

Ron shifted in his chair, not sure what to say. But his father moved on to talk of arrangements and contacting people and Ron realised that he could make suggestions. He realised that he could hold his own in an adult conversation. He realised that his father saw him as an adult.

At some point, in the action and the tedium and the pain and the adrenaline, they’d all grown so much older At some point understandings had been reached and relationships had changed and Ron had packed his childhood away in his battered school trunk. It would be a different world when everyone woke and left the comfort of the tower and each other, but Ron was different too. 

He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.


End file.
